I promise
by cookiemonsterchick
Summary: Laurette Domitia and Kestrell Elestren are sent off to the 46th annual Hunger Games. Laurette promised Mathew Crucis, her boyfriend, that she will make it out alive, while she promises Kestrell he will to. She knows she is going to have to break one of those promises. While Mathew is at home he has problems of his own.
1. Reaping Day

Laurettes POV:

Reaping day.

I stare at the ceiling. I can't sleep. Why? There's a giant knot in my stomach. Just thinking about today's events make my stomach churn. I see the new sunlight from a new dawn spread across the ceiling of my small room and sigh heavily. "Here we go again." I say warily. As I sit up and stretch my stiff muscles I remember something. Or someone. " Thomas." I say anxiously. I get up and start to dress. But not in my special fancy reaping clothes but just regular clothes. I pull the grey long sleeve shirt over my head and pull on a pair regular dark green pants and then finally my boots. I stare in the mirror that we are fortunate to have. I see my hair in a mess of light brown and role my eyes at the monster. I manage to untangle it and put it up behind my head. I walk out of my room and start to get our special reaping breakfast together. I jump when I hear his voice. "Hello."

I turn around to meet his warm brown eyes. "Don't scare me like that." I say sarcastically while I push his shoulder. "Like what?" he looks offended with a grin on his face. I just role my eyes and grin at him. "I brought something special." He says excitingly. "Oh yea? And what could that be?" I ask curiously. His grin broadens as he takes something round out of his bag. " I've been saving up for this. Rare to even have it." He says looking at me for a reaction. I look at the round object. Its round, plump, red, and odd. " What is it?" I ask. " Its called a pomegranate." He says clearly fascinated. " And what do we do with it?" I ask again. I know nothing about this. " We have a feast and eat it." He says looking at me like I'm stupid. "Mmmm… whatever you say." I say lifting my eyebrows. I start getting bread out and he helps me. "I got the bread special from the bakery. I've been saving up to you know." I say trying to impress him. He looks over to me and grins shaking his head. "Mmmm… whatever you say." He says mimicking me. He starts cutting the so called pomegranate. As I get the small meal prepared I look at him. His dark brown hair is a mess like usual but I like it that way. This brown eyes are mesmerizing. I think of us standing side by side as a happy couple. Free. I know we can never be free though. As he's cutting the fruit a question pops in my mind. " Mathew." I say questionably. "Yes?" he says not looking up from his task. " How many times is your name in that bowl?" I ask cautiously. He stops his cutting and is motionless. After a minute he continues cutting. I ask him again. "Mathew.. you can tell me." he sighs. "Its not that important, all that's important is we are here right now together." He says. I sigh and hug him from behind. " I don't want any of us to be picked… my names in there 27." I say. He lets out a shaky breath and turn around to meet my eyes and smiles warily. " We wont get picked. I promise." He says. I nod and bury my face in his chest. He hugs me back tightly. I'm so thankful for his warmth. "Hey guys!" comes a cheery voice from the doorway. I turn and see our life long friend Kestrell. I turn around to him and let off a small smile then get back to preparing the food. " Hey, what do you have there?" Says Mathew pointing to something Kestrell has. "Oh nothing, just a peach!" He says anxiously. I laugh. "More interesting fruit!" My mother and my little brother Joeseph walk in. "Hello Maria" says Kestrell and Mathew almost in unison. They know not to mess with her. I look up and see how uptight they are and laugh.

After we ate we all decided to get ready for the Reaping. I go in my room and strip. It's warm from the sunlight coming through my window. I put on my fancy light grey dress with long sleeves and comb my hair. My grandmother bought me a beautiful Ivory brush. I never knew how she got it. But it was amazing. I only use it on Reaping days. I put on my regular boots though. I look in the mirror and see a scared 16 year old girl, with long soft light brown hair, hazel eyes, and a beautiful dress. I spin not even recognizing myself in the mirror. I hear a voice from the next room. "I'm back!" It says. "Me to!" says another. I smile as I peek my head out of the door and almost lose my balance. I see two handsome young men and laugh at how I can say that. I step out revealing myself after my grooming session. "Wow." Says Mathew. " You look amazing!" he says smiling. I walk over to him as he walks to meet me. "You look so handsome." I say softly. I put my hands in his. "Ahem." Says Kestrell. " Oh, and so do you I guess." I say. " Hahahaha very funny." He says sarcastically. I laugh at him. My laugh gets cut short from a sudden toll of a bell. My face loses color and drains pale. I try gulping but I can't force anything down. "Hey." Says Mathew quietly. He lifts my chin up so I can meet his eyes and says " It's going to be fine. I promise you." I nod looking deep into his beautiful brown eyes. He kisses me softly. "Lets get the show on the road I guess." Says Kestrell emptily.

" Laurette Domitia." Says her cheerful voice into the microphone. I hadn't even realized whose name she said until seconds after the whole crowd was staring at me. I felt weak as if I was going to be sick. I start walking down the aisle between the people. "NO." Yells a voice. I recognize the voice automatically and turn as if though it's my call. Mathew is walking fast out of the crowd of 16 year old boys over to me. I see tears starting to form in his eyes. I face him as he is only 20 ft. away. Then the peacekeepers come. "MATHEW!" I scream his name. I try running for him as he trys running for me but we are separated. By a wall of peacekeepers restraining us. I scream and flail as he is beaten over the head and disappears onto the ground masked by the wall. I try to break out to see him but I am carried to the front of the stage where I am plopped down held by my arms. I stay silent. I let the tears fall down my cheeks. I know screaming and yelling wont help. Im helpless. Juviana goes to the boys bowl and picks a name at random. I couldn't believe my ears. How much bad luck we must have had. I was thankful it wasn't Mathew. But I was just about to scream again. For the nameI heard was the name of someone that was like my brother. "Kestrell Elestren." She says calmly. I look over to see Kestrells frightened face. As he walks on stage Juviana announces this years tribute for district 11. I look at him as we both let the tears come not stopping them. All I thought was, Why… Us?


	2. Promises and Memories

This isn't happening:

Mathews POV:

I open eyes to the bright sun. I don't hear anything. Then I remember."LAURETTE" I yell. I stand up and look over the heads of the crowd and see her just as she walks in the justice building. I start running. I know the tributes get goodbyes. I push through the people in my way. I run up the steps and past the peacekeepers into the building. There is two seperate hallways. A door at the end of each. I look at both of the doors. Which is which? I see a peacekeeper at the end of each door and ask one "is this the female tribute?" I say out of breathe. He nods and steps aside allowing me to go in. I slowly open the door silently to see her. She's sitting with her back to me with her head in her hands sobbing. My heart breaks. Why did I let this happen to her? I promised her. I said I would protected her. But I couldn't protect her from this. I walk over to her and stand behind her. She hears my footsteps and turns around to me with red puffy eyes and stifles a sob when she sees me. I sit next to her and look at her not being able to talk my self. She looks at me for two second and attacks me. It actually was a hug but she came so fast I didn't have to react. I put my arms around her and let out fresh tears. " I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... This is my fault." I says softly with a load of guilt. Why couldn't I have saved her?"Don't say that. This is not your fault. No one could have prevented this." She says sadly. I pull away from her and sob on my stands up and hugs me as I play the role she did and bury my face in her neck sobbing silently holding her tightly. "Tears won't help. What's important is that we are together right now." She says strongly and calmly. I lift my head and look at the wall behind her. " Don't worry." She says softly. She wipes my eyes gently. I take her hands and look in her eyes lower my face to hers. " Please... Come back alive to me." I said pleading. She shut her eyes and her head faced the floor." Mathew... Ill try." She says sadly. "No... You have to promise me this isn't the last time we will see each other." I say. She look behind me and kisses me. "I love you." She says. "I love you to." I say. After I said that immediately a low voice said "times up." I turned around to see two peacekeepers. I kissed her quickly and said "you are going to make it home." Then was pulled out of the room. Next stop, Kestrell. I go into the other hallway. Looking at the wooden walls walking down. The peacekeepers part for me to go in.

When I walk in Kestrell stands straight up. We wipes his eyes trying to look strong, yet I know how he really feels. " Mathew, why did-" I cut him off. "Kestrell... I need you to make me a promise." I say strongly. " Sure, anything." he says looking at me curiously. " You need to... to keep Laurette alive." I say calmly. He looks at me. His expression is un readable. Then he does something un expected. He yells at me. " SO MY LIFE DOESN'T MATTER?" He yells angrily. I sigh. "Kestrell, you have to understan-" I say being cut off by more yelling. " You expect ME to get her back alive. What about my life? Don't you even care about me?" He says furiously. He walks up to me and comes close enough so that our chests are 3 inches apart. We both are the same height. I look at him and glare. His face is red and his green eyes focus on me angrily. His blonde hair cut neatly by his mother. " You love her as much as I do. So why won't you help her? Just because she chose me?" I spit at him. He turns red and shoves me." GET OUT OF HERE!" He screams. He pushes me again more forcibly and I stumble out of the door. He closes it with a slam. I'm so furious with him. I start remembering the week it all happened.

_"Laurette, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that!" I say knocking on her door as Maria watches my patiently. " Shes not coming out." She says as she walks back to the small kitchen area. "Lauret-" I'm cut off by her yelling. "JUST GO AWAY!" She yells. " Laurette... I didn't want you to get hurt." I say impatiently. She opens the door quickly and walks up to me looking at me angrily. "So it's ok to lie?" She says questionably but still furious. I look at her beautiful eyes. " No... It's not... And I'm sorry." I say trying to have more patience. She eyes me and says, " think about that next time." Then shuts her door quickly again. I sigh heavily. "I'm sorry. When your ready to forgive me... You know where to find me." I say softly. I walk out of her house over to my own when I see some of the younger kids throwing snowballs at each other. Among them I see Kestrell laughing his head off probably having the time of his life._

_I let a small grin slip and run over to him ignoring the little kids staring at me. " hey! I can't let you have all the fun!" I say half cheerfully. " just in time!" He says and drops a snowball in my hand. " the target is Hendrick." He says pointing to a grubby wild looking kid hiding behind a small rock. I look at the kid then back to Kestrell. " the resemblance... Remarkable." I say teasing. He make a a face at me and hurls a snowball at the kid missing him by and inch. I scoff. " I can do WAY better than you!" I say mockingly."Oh yea?" He says raising his eyebrow. "Yea, I bet yo-" I say but am suddenly tackled ad on the ground. " you aren't better than me!" Says Kestrell laughing while he gets off of me helping me up. I let out a big breath and say " I'm gonna go and figure this problem I'm having out. But ill see you later." I tell him. I start walking away trying to think of ways I could make things right with Laurette when he suddenly starts following me. " What problem? I can help you out if you want!" He sad grinning. I glance at him and say " I don't think you can." I say putting my hands in my pockets walking slower. The sub is starting to lower and a shadow starts to spread Across the ground. "Here come on." He says taking me by the arms and dragging me. He takes me inside of a small abandoned cellar. The new moonlight shines in slightly. "So what's wrong?" He says fiddling with his fingers. "Laurette and I got in a fight and she won't forgive me." I say staring at the ground waiting for an answer to my problem to appear in my head. "Laurette... " he says the name slowly. " Yes... Laurette... Our Laurette.." I say. It's as if he's never heard the name before. He scoffs. "She's not our... She's just... Just yours." He says looking away. I begin to study his face. What is that? Do I see a flicker of jealousy? Does he... No... He wouldn't... I mean... I can see why he would... She is amazing but... "Do you... Love her?" I say curiously raising an eyebrow of my own. He looks down at his hands then looks up to me. There it is again. But with a dash of something new. Live and jealousy. Deadly when mixed together. "You do..." I say quietly. He stands up and says "Listen, I'm not denying that because... Well... Because its true... But I know you two are together. I don't want to mess anything up like I always do so I'm going to leave." He says and just like that he's gone._

_The next days was horrible. After school I went to Laurettes house. I usually always just come in the house without knocking and so that's what I did. I wish I hadn't. I was going to start saying her name until I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight I saw. I dropped my bag and stared at seconds after I had walked in and saw them did they acknowledge my presence. Laurette looked over to me and turned pale. She knew I was replaying the scene in my head over and over. Them... Together... Kissing... Hugging... But was love a factor in the equation? All I felt was betrayal. Kestrell looked just as pale as Laurette. She started walking over to me ad she put her hand on my arm but I quickly shook it off. "Mathew... It wasn-" but that was enough for me. I turned and ran out of the door. I left my bag there. Crap I thought. Well, to late to turn back now I thought again. I kept running until I was in my room. The small room that was cold and abandoned. Just like the little small house itself. I had been the only living here for years. I paced the room trying to forget the scene but all I could see was red and them being close together, and kissing. I got so disgusted and furious I kicked the wall leaving a small hole. "Mathew." Came her voice. I kept my back to her. I couldn't face her. " Mathew... I'm... I'm sorry... I'm... I'm the worse there is. I don't deserve you. It all happened so quick." she said. I stayed still. The only question I had for her was "do you... Love him?"_

_I said softly. I heard her shuffle. "Of course not. You know there is only one person for me to love. But I can't see his face when he's turned his back on me." She says trying to persuade me to turn to her.I stood there. I could feel her gaze. I wanted to get angry again but I knew I couldn't. Not with her. I let out a low shaky breathe and turned around. "Laurette I'm sor-" she cuts me off with a kiss. "I'm the one who's sorry. Besides, being with you… It just feels right." She says while tracing the pattern of a button on my coat with her finger. " Im sorry to though." I say. "For making your brother lie like that… that isn't right." I say apologetically. She smiles smally. "It's ok. No big harm was caused." She says slowly. _

_ The next day, as I was walking home from the fields that night, I realized my bag was still at Laurettes house, so I started for there. I started whistling a small tune, and noticed there was only 1 mockingjay flying by me. I thought this was odd because usually mockingjays are in groups… together. I thought about this and kept walking when I finally came to a spot where I could see the house. I stopped. Kestrell was at the front door knocking on it. I of course knew that Laurette, her mother, and her brother were not home. They were at her aunts house. As I studied him I got angry. I started walking for him. He heard me and turned around. "Mathew?" he said surprised. I saw red and the anger boiled and steamed as I pinned him up against the front door. "Get out of here." I said through clenched teeth. "Get off first!" he yelled shoving me off. "What's your problem?" he asked angrily. "YOUR'E MY PROBLEM! Kissing the girl you KNOW I love! Turning her anger on me just to be able to slip in a kiss!" I roared at him. "It was HER choice!" he said. "She let me kiss her!" he spit back. I have to admit, that one stung. All I could see was red. I ran and tackled him to the ground. "YOU JERK!" I yelled. "HEY!" he yelled. He managed to roll us over him on top of me. "ARGH!" I yelled. I shoved him off standing up ready for a fight. "You're the jerk!" he yelled running for me. I dodged his hit only to be hit in the stomach. I stood up clutching my stomach and threw my fist as hard as I could hoping not to miss. My fist with his nose head on. "ARGH!" he staggered back holding his nose as blood flowed from it. He was angry with me and threw a last punch at me hitting me in the throat. I couldn't breathe, I started panicking. I couldn't get any air in and in seconds I blacked out._

_ "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO THINKING!" someone yelled across the room. I recognized it was Laurettes voice of course. I opened to find myself on a table on the left side of her living room. Maria, Laurette, and Kestrell were all on the right. As I looked over I saw her yelling at him while he held a piece of cloth to his head. Maria was just sitting in a chair sipping a cup of water. "YOU IDIOTS! GOING OUT AND KILLING EACH OTHER!" she practically screamed. "Hes awake." Said Maria softly. Laurette looked over to me and a hundred of different emotions flickered across her face. Anger, love, relief, happiness, and more anger. I wished I hadn't opened my eyes when she s told Maria and Kestrell to leave the room. She stood there and put her hand on the wall opposite to me putting her back to me. I sat there wondering what she would say. "Mathew… I cannot believe how stupid.." she began. She turned and faced me. Her face hardened. "You know he could have killed you…" she said calmly. "On accident or on purpose… and giving him a bloody nose doesn't help." I wanted to tell her, "he started it," or "he deserved it!" but I knew I shouldn't. Then she said something that surprised me a little. "But, I'm so glad your ok." She said as she walked over to me and sat beside me putting her hand in mine. " I kno-" I started to say but stopped immediately. The pain in my throat hurt badly and I believed I wouldn't talk again. I put my hand up to my throat. She looked worried. "Can you talk?" she asked. I shook my head and rubbed my throat. She sighed. "I'm sorry." She said and kissed my cheek. " I guess you can't tell Kestrell now that I didn't chew you out as bad as I did him." She said grinning as she layed her head on my shoulder._


End file.
